Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal to travel to West Bank in historic visit
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is expected to visit the West Bank this weekend, marking one of the most senior Saudi officials to do so since 1967.
The top Saudi diplomat will lead an Arab delegation that will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials from the Palestinian Authorities (PA) during their one-day visit, according to Palestinian Ambassador to Riyadh, Mazen Ghoneim.
Ghoneim said the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and 'other countries' would also be part of the visit.
In comments to Saudi Arabia's Al-Ekhbariya, Ghoneim said the talks would focus on Arab efforts for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
Saudi Arabia and France are expected to co-host a conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York next month, where Paris is scheduled to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Manal Radwan, a senior advisor to the Saudi foreign minister, said regional peace begins with recognizing the State of Palestine 'not as a symbolic gesture, but as a strategic necessity.'
Speaking earlier this month at a preparatory UN session ahead of the June conference, Radwan said: 'Civilians continue to pay the price of a war that must end immediately. The escalation in the West Bank is equally alarming. Despair grows deeper by the day.'
She added: 'This is precisely why we must speak not only of ending the war but of ending a conflict that has lasted nearly eight decades.'
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